1. Sherman County Court Draft Agenda, Aug. 17

2. Online Support for Family Caregivers

The Challenge of Champions Tour features, on average, 30 professional bull riders from around the Pacific Northwest. Contractors bring their best bulls, allowing bull riders to get on the best bulls on the Tour. We showcase the top 3 or 4 bull riders at each event ranging from PBR Qualifiers, NFR Qualifiers, Top Circuit Qualifiers, Collegiate and High School Finalists.

Importantly, at each event, a true American Hero, a service man or woman, is featured. We follow this with an invocation where our founder Jason Mattox’s girls bring our stars and stripes into the arena. Our mission is to preserve western heritage and present professional events.

Sherman County Senior & Community Center, after 10 years of serving lunch with the same price schedule, will increase meal prices effective September 1, 2016.

The suggested donation price for those 60 and over will be $4.00, for those from 13-60 years of age $7.00 and for those under 12 $3.00.

This increase is caused by the continuing rise in the cost of food and labor in the market today. The Senior Center staff thanks you for your continued patronage and support.

5. GMO Food Labeling Bill Signed into Law

President Barack Obama signed the GMO food labeling bill on July 29, 2016. This historic bill will require the mandatory labeling of food that contains genetic engineering. The legislation gives food producers the option to either label their products with wording or a symbol, or to provide a smart phone accessible digital QR code that when scanned, discloses information concerning whether the food contains ingredients made with biotechnology. The newly signed law will preempt a potential patchwork of state-based GMO labeling laws that could have caused chaos in the national food manufacturing and distribution system. With the President’s signature, the next step will be implementation of a national labeling system by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

6. Change Can Be a Natural Thing

Why is it so hard for some people to change? These folks deny the need to change, push back against any change, and can make the workplace a difficult place to be. They defend the anchors that keep the organizational “ship” from moving. Before “throwing” these people “overboard,” it is helpful to understand what happens when we try to behave differently.

Did you know that whenever you act differently than you really believe yourself to be, you produce stress? It doesn’t matter whether the new behavior is worse or better than the old. If it’s significantly different, it will generate stress. So how in the world do people change? Well, one way is to just grit your teeth and go ahead and throw yourself into the situation, act differently, and hang on until the new behavior is repeated often enough to feel comfortable.

But there is a better way, a less stressful way, a way that takes much of the pain and anxiety out of change. You change the mental picture you have of yourself first. You literally rehearse the future in your head, and you see yourself acting in the new way. You take yourself through it safely and comfortably in your mind, over and over again. Soon it doesn’t feel like new behavior at all. It feels like something you routinely do. It feels natural.

Then, when it comes time for you to actually change, it’s not such a big deal. It is “like you” to be that way. Any stress you experience will feel more like the excitement of an adventure than the anxiety of change.

By the way, the process of repeatedly seeing yourself behave in a certain way is called visualization, and it works for countless individuals. Watch the athletes during the next swim meet, track & field contest or gymnastics competition – or better yet, the Summer Olympics – a lot of them are visualizing their performance, seeing every twist and turn. It can work for you, too, and you don’t need to be an Olympic athlete. Why not give it a try? ~ The Pacific Institute